About Milk?

Question

So I'm confused, I thought that we needed milk for strong bones and for calcium and stuff. Do we? Or is milk bad for you? If it is, how do you get calcium and strong bones?

Answer 1

You are not going to find any clear cut answers on here... or anywhere honestly...
In my opinion, milk is not good for you (or at least not AS good as the national dairy council would like us to believe)
Just a suggestion... don't always believe what you read on the internet or hear on TV. And don't be so quick to believe what the Got Milk ads have to say.
There are lots of other ways to get calcium and other things that milk has in it w/o actually consuming milk.

Answer 2

If milk was so vital to our health as adults, why is it that humans seem to think they're the only species on the planet that needs to drink milk into adulthood? Why do we wean our babies at all? If we needed milk to be healthy, surely our own mothers would breastfeed us for the rest of our lives?? No other animal on the planet drinks milk after weaning (unless we give it to them). It is unnatural for an adult of any species to drink milk after weaning. Have you thought about how the largest species of land animals are all vegetarians? Think about giraffes, elephants, cows, horses etc. They all are very large, and don't suffer from osteoporosis. Eating vegetation gives them all the calcium they need. There is calcium in many vegetable based foods, that is also more readily absorbed into the body than from dairy sources. Did you know that the eating of protein actually strips calcium from the bones? Another good reason to reduce meat intake. It doesn't take too much education to learn that you can get all the calcium & protein you need from vegetable sources - you just need to research a little.

Answer 3

All right, I'll try to give you an unbiased answer here, since you're asking about health concerns and not animal rights, etc.

We don't "need" it for calcium, there are many other sources. Lots of people never drink milk (lactose intolerant, allergic, vegan, cultures that don't drink a lot of milk).

Milk isn't bad for you unless you are allergic or lactose intolerant. It just isn't the all encompassing health food people make it out to be. If you like it and it doesn't bother you, go for it. A little side note to you, a lot of people with persistent acne find that milk is the cause.

You can get calcium from lots of places, broccoli and other veggies, fortified cereal, orange juice and soymilk are just a few examples. The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the countries with the highest consumption of milk.

Silk Soymilk has as much as or more vitamins and minerals than regular milk and I find that it tastes better. Soymilk also has the added health value of soy protein. I know lots of people who replace milk with soymilk and ice cream with soy ice cream but still eat cheese on occasion and enjoy similar health benefits to giving up dairy all together.

Answer 4

Many of the people in the world do not drink other animals' milk (~more than half). So that's a pretty good indication you don't need it for calcium. There are a lot of other sources of calcium.

Answer 5

We do need milk , I drink organic ,but girls especially don't get enough calcium. You should take a calcium supplement with vitamin D and Magnesium .Some Calcium tablets have only the vitamin D in it so you have to get some Magnesium tablets. All girls should do this starting in their teens and continue throughout their life. This way you keep your bones strong and have less chance of Osteoporsis when you get older. The calcium should be 500 mg in strength and when your older you increase dosage to 1500 mg per day.

Answer 6

Most of that "we need milk for strong bones" stuff is left over from when they drilled it into our heads when we were kids. There are many other ways to get calcium that don't involve the strange and unnatural act of drinking the breast milk of another species designed for their babies, not our adults. Milk can also be high in fat and cholesterol. Since you asked a health question, I will abstain from the torturous conditions cows are faced with in today's agri-business.

The short answer is: No, we do not need milk.

Answer 7

If you think about it, we don't suck our mothers' t*ts anymore. . .why would we suck off a cow's?

Seriously, though. . .no, we don't need it. Not only are humans the only animal that feed off the milk of another animal, but humans are also the only animal to drink milk into adulthood. Even though, by the time humans are around the age of 2, they lose 98-99% of the enzyme lactase, which is responsible for digesting lactose, because, like any other animal naturally knows, they don't need milk anymore. So, naturally, the stop drinking it.
Dairy is the most contaminated food group. Not only does it contain antibiotics, steroids, chemicals, pus and blood cells, etc. . .but perchlorate is also often found in it. Perchlorate is the scientific word for. . .get this. . .rocket fuel. Yuck. You can't trust anyone.
I highly suggest reading the books The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Skinny ***** by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

http://www.notmilk.com
http://www.milksucks.com

Answer 8

Definitely raw milk is good for you, and if you're not lactose intolerant, it actually IS like a wonder food, a miracle health food. But this is only true of raw, milk from grass fed happy cows.

There are many studies on it's amazing health benifits, and they even used to do a special milk fast, wherein any ills a person had were cured- a cure all! (search mayo clinic milk fast on web, and realmilk.com)

But remember, this is COMPLETELY different from the milk from modern factories- tightly crowded with tortured cows, who are separated from their babies, tails cut off, machine milked, unloved, injected with huge amounts of hormones and antibiotics, and who hardly even move around. Cows can live long healthy lives, (up to around 30 years) but cows in modern factory dairies are so sick and useless after about 4 years, that they slaughter them.

Happy cows love to give you milk! I know because I have a very happy cow, she is 15 years old now, and she has been giving me milk for 3 years now, and that's amazing since she didn't even have a calf to start this lactation. :-) I love her!

Answer 9

you can get calcium from alot of things besides milk,dark green leafy vegetables are the best source for calcium if you don't want to get it from milk or milk products.Milk is not bad for you unles you are allergic or have problems digesting it.Just eat a good diet from all the food groups and you will have strong bones.

Answer 10

People have been drinking milk for thousands of years, so if people are getting sick now a days, there must be something wrong with the modern system of obtaining milk.

I noticed that in countries where the people are exceptionally tall, they have been drinking milk as part of their culture.

Milk drinking Europeans, Africans, and milk drinking Asians seem to be tall.

I noticed it quite clearly in West Bengal. The people that won't touch milk, are usually shorter and have flat or squarish shaped heads.. The Bengalis that drink milk are usually tall and have rounded skulls in the back. They are often possessing an intellectual quality.

As far as physically fit goes, both seem to be strong and able bodied.

My husband is from Bengal and from generations of milk drinkers. He is very intellectually keen and tall with a rounded skull.
You can notice that in European stock and African Stock as well. (in cultures where milk is drunk)

The Hawaiian people used to be quite a strong lot. They didn't eat cows meat and they also didn't drink any kind of milk.. It seems though that they were weak when they took the foreign foods and were defenseless against foreign disease. (It is very sad)

You can judge for yourself. Research, research, research!!!